Praying to be ‘obstinate and hard-hearted’?

This really struck me today! If you ever feel intimidated about speaking truth in the face of the angry cultural mob, then check out this passage from the Lord to Ezekiel…

“I am not sending you to a foreign people whose language you cannot understand. No, I am not sending you to people with strange and difficult speech. If I did, they would listen! But the people of Israel won’t listen to you any more than they listen to me! For the whole lot of them are hard-hearted and stubborn. But look, I have made you as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are. I have made your forehead as hard as the hardest rock! So don’t be afraid of them or fear their angry looks, even though they are rebels.” (Ezekiel 3:5-9)

Israel was in a deep state of rebellion. The Lord knew that Ezekiel was going into a lion’s den, but that lion was toothless. Even still, it can be scary to be hated and despised, especially by your own people. I found it interesting that the Lord made Ezekiel “as obstinate and hard-hearted as they are” so that he could warn the people without fear. It occurs to me that perhaps we could pray for that as well so that we have the strength to do the same in our day!